Williams K A, White M A, Badenoch P R, Wedding T R, Alfrich S J, Sawyer M A, Noack L M, Johnstone E W, Zilm G, Coster D J
Department of Ophthalmology, Flinders University of South Australia, Adelaide.
Aust N Z J Ophthalmol. 1990 Feb;18(1):77-89. doi: 10.1111/j.1442-9071.1990.tb00588.x.
The Lions Eye Bank of South Australia was established six years ago and has collected corneas from 790 donors. The consent rate is currently 82% of requests made. Two-thirds of donors have been male, with mean donor age/year varying from 54 to 64 years (range two to 93 years). Cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, trauma and haemorrhage account for 80% of all donor deaths. Mean death to enucleation time is five hours. Corneas assessed as being of excellent or very good quality are released preferentially from the bank; those with central endothelial cell counts of less than 1500 cells/mm2 are discarded. Fewer than 1% of donors have returned a positive result for HIV or hepatitis B. Of the 1580 corneas collected by the bank, 863 (55%) have been used for transplantation with a primary non-function rate of 0.46%. The evolving policies, logistics of operation and methodologies employed by the bank are described in detail.
